iPsychExpts are custom written psychology online experiments coded in DHTML. Hence, iPsychExpts run in all the major web browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Netscape Navigator & Konqueror) without participants having to download and install a web browser plug-in, such as Macromedia Authorware Web Player.

iPsychExpts may include images, text, animation, sound and video.

If sound or video clips are used then participants will be required to initially adjust the volume on their monitor or speakers to ensure that the sound output is clearly audible. The participants may also be requested to use headphones, and then indicate whether they did actually uses headphones at the end of the iPsychExpt.

If video clips are used then they must have small viewing dimensions and be short in duration. So that participants will not dropout because they had to wait an inordinately long time for the video clip to download.

iPsychExpts may involve randomization and measuring of response times.

Although the JavaScript getTime() function records time in milliseconds it is probably safest and best to assume that response times can be more reliably measure to one hundredth of a second rather than a thousandth of a second, especially when the participants are simultaneously running other applications on their computer.

An iPsychExpt should be relatively short and not excessively dull or repetitive. That is to say it should ideally not: take longer than 15 minutes to complete, involve reading too much text or involve too many trials. Otherwise a high percentage of participants will dropout from the iPsychExpt hence substantially reducing the amount of data collected. In other words keep the experiment “Short and Sweet”.

Obviously an experiment which requires highly controlled viewing conditions (e.g., involving millisecond accurate presentation times) or requires millisecond accurate recording of response times would not make for a viable iPsychExpt.

To attain a better understanding of what iPsychExpts are take the iPsychExpts’ Tour by clicking here.

Also to sample some actual iPsychExpts go to the participants’ section of the iPsychExpt web site or simply click here.

	The iPsychExpter is an application that is installed on the researcher’s computer that enables the researcher to download and overview data from their iPsychExpt. iPsychExpter runs on the following operating systems:
	Windows 98/NT/ME/2000/XP.
	Mac OS X, Mac OS Classic (e.g., Mac OS 8,9).
	Red Hat Enterprise 3, SuSE Linux 8.1 (and higher), Mandrake Linux 9.1 (and higher, including Mandriva).

Key Features of the iPsychExpter

• Compiles data that enables the researcher to analyze the dropout rates for the between-subjects and within-subjects factors of the iPsychExpt. Therefore enabling the researcher to determine whether there is significant difference in participant dropout rates across different experimental conditions.
• Compiles data that enables the researcher to analyze the effects of web browser related technical variance on the experimental data. Therefore enabling the researcher to determine whether variation in web browser, operating system, screen resolution and screen colour depth, significantly affects the dependent measure(s) employed in the experiment.
• Compiles the IP Addresses of participants. Therefore enabling the researcher to guard against and minimize the effects of repeated participation by including only one expeimental data submission per IP address. Note that iPsychExpts also have an in-built cookie routine that also helps prevent repeated participation.
• Compiles the participation durations. Therefore enabling the researcher to exclude the experimental data of “fly-by-night” participants (i.e., participants who for example complete a ten minutes iPsychExpt in one minute).
• Provides an overview of general information about the iPsychExpt, such as how many days the iPsychExpt has been running, how may participants participated per day, how many participants submitted data per day and what web sites participants were recruited from.
• Exports data in a format that can be easily analyzed by statistical packages such as SPSS.

To attain a basic understanding of what the iPsychExpter is take the iPsychExpts Tour by clicking here.

For further information on the iPsychExpter application please download the iPsychExpter User’s Manual. PDF (Size: 268K)

If you are interested in conducting an iPsychExpt then e-mail post@ipsychexpts.com for further information.

“My iPsychExpt has enabled me to conduct my research both cost effectively and efficiently.” – Dr Michael Lewis

“I just wanted to let you know how impressed I was with the development, design and management of our online survey on decision-making about fertility issues. The survey was top quality, and clearly was very easy for participants to access, making our research goals easily reached. This is especially so considering that your advertising advice was spot on so that we reached our target sample size much sooner than we had anticipated. I look forward to working with you on our next study, planned for the next month or so.” – Dr Jacky Boivin

“iPsychExpts set up a web experiment for me and I am very satisfied with the work they have done. My rather crude design was quickly turned into an elegant and visually appealling presentation that accomplished exactly what I wanted and enabled me to gather a large amount of very useful data. iPsychExpts quickly understood what I wanted, so the whole process involved very little time and effort on my part. When I ran into problems dowloading the raw data, iPsychExpts quickly and efficiently sorted them out for me. I am happy to recommend iPsychExpts to anyone who may want to run a web experiment.” – Professor Peter White